LETTERS: WAGE INCREASE IS GOOD

To the editor:

I suppose it's nice Sen. John Ashcroft took time out of his busy schedule to labor at a variety of menial jobs such as the produce section of a grocery market. To do something occasionally doesn't equal the drudgery of doing it day in and day out as a living.

It have heard people say that in the 1960s the minimum wage provided some standard of living, that one could get one's own apartment and afford to eat.

In a nation where the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, surely we can't begrudge the common worker a $5.15-an-hour job.

It has nothing to do with Democrat or Republican, but having compassion on our fellow man. Those without a college education will surely appreciate this blessing an election year afforded them.

MARTHA THOMPSON

Jackson